Not As Hard As It Seemed
by enelle1989
Summary: By one single phone call, Nate brings their normal life to the end. - Inside U4.


**Tags** : Nathan Drake & Elena Fisher, Samuel Drake, established relationship, marriage, lies, phone call, conflict of emotions, inside the story, normal life, goodbye,

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own anything of the Uncharted series, everything belongs to Naughty Dog, Sony and other respective owners.

I am not an English-speaker, so if there are mistakes, forgive me, I'm doing my best to avoid them.

* * *

Nate frowns at his resurrected big brother, internally torn by opposing emotions. His initial joy of seeing Sam Drake solid and alive now's fading away as Nate's fully coming to terms with the seriousness of the trouble Sam got himself into this time.

Sam needs him. Nate's truly relieved to know that Sam doesn't blame him for anything and that he thinks of him as the only person he can actually trust. He lets his sight linger on the thin line of the river dwindling way off in the distance when a haunting memory of that horrifying moment during the prison escape makes his heart hurt again - the moment when Sam slipped from his grasp and vanished on the wrong side of the fence… where he'd left him for fifteen years.

He has to help him, no matter what. He owes him this. It's entirely his fault. He _wants_ to do anything that'll allow him to even try to wash away that huge sense of guilt. Finding the Avery's treasure and paying the ransom to Alcazar is the least he can do for Sam. They have to go, right away. All he have to do, is to explain this to Elena…

Nate swallows. _God_. For the last years they made a horrendous effort to make their marriage work again. Maybe he did even more effort, leaving his life as a thief and committing entirely to them, committing to _her_. They managed to make this work, managed to rebuilt trust between them. Goddamnit, he did swear _never_ , _ever_ , lie to her again…

He glances again at Sam, as he's lighting up his cigarette. A thought of making an unexpected and quick introduction of his big brother to Elena and then simply taking their bags makes his stomach twist. _"Hi hon, meet Sam, he's my brother." "Sam, that's my wife Elena." "I'm sorry 'lena, but we have an ancient cross to steal from the black-market auction in Italy and we gotta go-"_

No. It shouldn't be like this. He doesn't want it to be like this. Nate's imagination can't even picture the amount of absurdity and bleakness of such family encounter. But he does imagine Elena's face, full of hurt and disappointment - the one he saw just way too many times in the past and doesn't want to see ever again - as he admits that all these years he's been lying to her about Sam. _Damnit, Nate, if it'd been only 'bout Sam_ …

 _She doesn't need to know it now_. _No_ \- _she can't find it out now - she wouldn't understand this_. _Not this time._ He'll explain everything to her and make things the way they should be - once and for good - after they'll be back with the treasure. _There's no other choice_ , he thinks, hushing his instinct that's screaming alarmingly at the back of his head that the pile of lies will soon exceed all safety norms.

He makes a sigh as his eyes wander down, to the screen of his phone, and he scrolls down the menu.

 _Phone._

 _Recent Calls_.

 _Elena_. _Tue, 11:56 PM_.

 _Damnit_ -

He stares for an instance at her name displayed on the screen and feels an unfamiliar burden gathering on his shoulders. He never felt like this before when he lied to her. His thumb lingers above the key with a green receiver when he hesitates one more time, and then pushes it. He turns on his heel and starts walking slowly in a circle as he listens to a tone signal in the speaker. Instantly the pressure in his throat nearly takes his breath away, as Elena answers his call after a single signal, not giving him any more time to collect his thoughts.

"Hey hon, it's me," he greets her automatically, but merrily and a bit breathlessly, a wide and false grin plastered to his face.

" _Hey!_ "

"Uhh… Listen, you're not gonna believe this…"

" _What?_ " Elena asks, and Nate can practically hear her grinning to the phone, the way she always does when she's curious about his news. He fixates his eyes on Sam for a moment like if he's pointing at him as the culprit of what he's about to tell her.

Nate takes a nervous breath straightening himself up. He feels his cheeks burning and squeezes his eyes shut. For a split second he's close to back out, as his voice sticks somewhere in the back of his throat and refuses to go out as he opens his mouth. _It's gonna be all right_ , he's repeating to himself. _There's no other option_. He clenches his left hand into a fist and quickly, with an exhaust, speaks out his lie with eyes closed, nearly letting his voice break up a little at the end of the sentence.

His heart stops for a second as she doesn't reply immediately.

" _Oh… that's-_ " he eventually hears her soft and a little surprised voice. " _That's great!_ "

 _Great_. _She said 'great'. Of course. That's great_.

"Yeah," he blurts out with relief, tension releasing from his body and pride slowly sprouting inside his chest. _This can work_ , he thinks, clinging to the idea that he actually regains control over his life.

" _And you were such a pessimist about that,_ " Elena remarks.

"I know," Nate replies, "but I- it looks like I'm gonna take that Malaysia job."

" _Good. When are you leaving, then?_ "

"Uhh- Right away, I guess… We're… No wasting time, y'know-" Nate blurts out, a sheepish grin appearing on his face. "I'm just gonna… Drop by home, get my stuff and we're leaving."

" _This soon?_ " he hears her scowl at the other side of the line. " _You're sure it's necessary? I'm stuck at the publisher right now… I won't be able to see you off._ "

Nate grits his teeth. He knows that tone.

"Oh, that's-" he blurts, having nothing more clever to say. He hears her making a sad sigh and it makes him feel even worse. "Elena, I'm sorry-"

" _No, Nate, it's all right..."_ she makes a pause again. " _It's terrific. Y'know, actually, I was worried that this job might never work out. But I think you need this, it'll help you distract yourself a bit. I'm so happy for you._ "

These words make his heart suddenly drop.

"Yeah-," he answers, turning his back to Sam and clasping the mobile in his hand, trying to figure anything to lighten her up. "Listen, we- I'll be back as soon as possible, I promise. We know the estimated coordinates, so it's only a question of a few, quick dives and the wreck is ours. I have nothing else to do in Malaysia… at least, not without you," he stops for a second to hear her snicker. He plants his left hand on his hip as he presses the top of his shoe to the open door to the office. "Trust me, you won't even notice that I've been gone."

" _All right. I'll hold you to it, cowboy_."

Finally, he can practically hear her smile again. A grin appears on his face as he realizes that and he gently kicks the door to the office.

"I love you."

" _I love you too. Don't make a mess. And call me before you board the plane_."

"Got it," he replies. "Bye."

He flips his phone closed and exhales the air from his lungs, dropping his arm along his side.

 _Well_ \- _it could be worse_.


End file.
